Paris Titans swept at home despite special-teams scoring

Jim Brown

Sports Correspondent

The Paris Titans were at home for a pair of Provincial Junior C Hockey League contests on the weekend. Home ice did not prove to be beneficial as they lost both games. The only similarity was that the visiting team scored six goals.

Three first period goals Friday evening carried the visiting Hespeler Shamrocks to a 6-2 decision over the Titans. The Shamrocks held a 5-1 advantage after 40 minutes. Each team added  a goal in  the final period.

Cohen Alexander opened the scoring at  3:46, followed by Evan Silveira at 6:43 and Ethan McKay at 13:55.

Trevor McDowell put the Titans on the board at 10:21 of the second period on the power play, with assists being earned by Ryan Gardiner -O'Keefe and Spencer Edwards.

Liam Nelson made it 41 with the man advantage, at 14:13 and Silveira, with his second of the night, at 19:11 made it 5-1.

Langdon McGrath made it 6-1 at 1:15 of the third period on the power play and Clark Dunford tallied the Titan's second goal at 10:05.

Colton Thomson turned aside 16 of 22 shots he faced and Nolen Carriere made 25 saves.

The next night, following a scoreless first period Saturday evening against the Woodstock Navy Vets, the Titans opened the scoring at 6:17 of the second period as Kayden Blacquiere scored on the power play, with help from Jake Semiwolos and Austin Christian.

Just 45 seconds later Tate McKenna scored for the Navy Vets to even the count. McKenna netted his second of the game at 14:41 to give Woodstock a 2-1 lead. 

Owen Ireton scored as 1:27 of the third period two give the visitors 3-1 advantage. Charley Barnes made it 4-1 at 3:18 and made it 5-1 at 7:31 with the man advantage.

Just 27 seconds later. Cole Kersey scored an unassisted marker to make the discord 5-2.  Austin Christian made it 5-3 at 15:21 with Josh Russell getting the assist. Cooper Vickerman made the score 6-3  at 18:22. Ethan Madden stopped 36 of 42 shots he faced while Tyler Bouk turned aside 41 of 44 shots directed at him.

Paris was 1-for-6 with the man advantage while Woodstock was 1-for-4 on the power play.

There has been a coaching change for  the Titans.

Coach Gordy Christian said they got off to a good start in the game. "We had a good first period in which we had good scoring opportunities," he said.

The coach noted they played about 54 minutes of good hockey. Woodstock was able to take advantage of the six  minutes when the Titans played poorly.

"I believe this team can win," he said. "With the coaching change the philosophy of the team will change." He also noted that Cole Kersey had a strong game for Titans, scoring the team's second goal on a wrap-around, adding he goes out for each shift and plays hard.